Med_ia_te: National School For New Media Art Curation 1999

med_ia_te: the ANAT National School for New Media Art Curation, evolved out of a recognition that to nurture art which utilises technology, adequate education of curators and arts workers must also be undertaken. As new technologies become increasingly critical to art practices, it is important to provide skill-based education for curators wishing to extend their practice into this area, med_ia_te was a world first in providing this type of training, and we hope that it will go on to provide for a ‘world’s best practice’ model for training in this area.

The school was held in association with Contemporary Arts Services Tasmania (CAST), in Hobart, Tasmania, 28 March -11 April,1999. Trained curators, technicians and theorists from both Australia and overseas provided intensive training, in a two week masterclass teaching environment, that gave curators both a technical and a theoretical understanding of new media art exhibition practice.

The international tutors for the school were Sara Diamond, Director of Banff New Media Centre in Canada, and Tapio Makela, a Finnish curator, artist and writer. Other expert national tutors were Linda Wallace, Shiralee Saul, Peter Hennessey, Jason Gee and John Tonkin.

Several local Tasmanian artists and curators gave artist’s talks or presentations about their current work, including PK Khut, whose work was installed at the CAST Gallery, Leigh Hobba who had curated an exhibition of local artists work, Sean Bacon and Matt Warren, both exhibiting in the immediate exhibition curated by Leigh Hobba, and Martin Walsch.

A highlight of the school was a ‘school excursion’to Bruny Island on the final day, where participants, tutors, members of the CAOs (Contemporary Art Organisations) network who were in town for a meeting, and local artists travelled down to Cape Bruny to visit David Haines and Joyce Hinterding who are currently undertaking an artists’ residency at the lighthouse, spending three months tracking and capturing images and sound from weather satellites, sampling sounds from guy wires in howling gales and filtering radio frequencies emitted by the Southern Aurora to manipulate and develop into video and sound installations.

The residency was initiated by the artists following Hinterding’s participation in the ANAT National Summer School in ’97, and has been supported by CAST and funded by the Australia Council.

ANAT is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council its arts funding and advisory body, by the South Australian Government through Arts SA and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.